Photos © Nubar Alexanian
A national dialogue about
personal values and civic ideals
FACILITATOR’S MANUAL
(Version 7.05)
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction…………………………………………………….……..3
Overview………………………………………………………….…..5
Description of Group Process …………………………..……………6
Supplementary Materials
Introduction to NPR’s This I Believe …………….…………………………..…11
This I Believe Warm Up Exercises …..…………………………….......………..12
This I Believe Essay-Writing Tips/Original Invitation from Edward R. Murrow
……………………..……………………………………………………….…….13
Quotes from the NPR Series ……………………………...……………….…….15
Quotes from the Original Series .………………………………..…..…………..17
Definitions ………………………………………………………………………18
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This I Believe Dialogue Facilitation Manual
Introduction
Why Dialogue? Why Now?
“When people share personal stories, their uniqueness and complexity emerge. Personal
exchanges diminish stereotyping and promote caring.”
-Public Conversations Project, 2001 (www.publicconversations.org)
This I Believe offers a unique position to facilitate new kinds of discussion that can bring
people together in a spirit of deeper understanding and respect, and encourage new voices
to come together in an atmosphere of safety and inclusiveness.
This manual offers resources to help you think of ways that you can engage your group or
community in a dialogue around values that are constructive, free of political rhetoric or
religious dogma, and that ultimately lay the groundwork for broadening the forum of
public discourse to include more diversity and more voices without sacrificing harmony.
We feel it is an extremely important time for community leaders to proactively step up
and initiate this type of dialogue. Why?
Fifty years ago, Edward R. Murrow, the original host of This I Believe, recognized that
America was facing a new era. The atom bomb had ushered in the Cold War, and Senator
Joseph McCarthy was questioning the patriotism of Americans. Today, like half a century
ago, we face the beginning of yet another era: America’s domestic and foreign policies
have been deeply transformed, technological and demographic revolutions present
tangled ethical questions, and conflicts about beliefs seem to threaten and divide our
nation.
In the face of these challenges, there seems to be scant wisdom present in the public
arena to guide us past the “spin” of the moment and on to thoughtful discussion of the
larger issues. Even if one did attempt to articulate his or her beliefs, current trends are not
likely to encourage introspection. Sound bites replace convictions; cheap caricature
trumps reasoned analysis.
Perhaps of even greater concern than issues of war, peace, democracy, free speech, and
tolerance is any restriction of our ability to talk about these things. Virtually all our public
discourse now happens on the pages and the airwaves of media outlets owned by a
dwindling number of large corporations. In 1984, 50 companies owned a controlling
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interest in the nation’s broadcasting, print, and publishing industries. As of 2002, that
number had dwindled to six.
A vital democracy requires direct communication. As the conversation begins, we must
also learn how to listen to one another and to choose our words effectively so that others
can hear. Liberals might find out that conservatives have important ideas beneath the
standard-issue rants, and vice-versa. Those of conflicting religious conviction might find
common ground. It is possible, but we will never know in our current conversational
climate where the dialogue is designed to create more heat than light.
Our goal is not to persuade Americans to agree on the same beliefs; our goal is to
encourage Americans to begin the much more difficult task of developing sensitivity to
beliefs different from their own. We believe that this process will happen only from the
grassroots up—on public radio, in local newspapers, on the Internet, at meetings in
neighborhood libraries, church basements, and community centers. This was the lesson
50 years ago when Murrow’s project struck a chord in millions of Americans who
listened to the radio series and read the essays in print. We believe it can do so again.
It seems so simple—sitting down together and listening—and yet it is the lack of this
simple act that causes and perpetuates so much violence in the world.
-Public Conversations Project, 2001 (www.publicconversations.org)
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This I Believe Dialogue Facilitation Manual
OVERVIEW
Step 1—Welcome & Opening Remarks
5 minutes
Step 2— Ice Breaker Activity:
Talking About What’s Important
15 minutes
Step 3—Description of This I Believe
10 minutes
Step 4— Review Principles of Conversation
5 minutes
Step 5—Writing About My Beliefs
15 minutes
--session can be split here as participants take more time for writing portion--Step 6—Sharing My Beliefs With Others
25 minutes
Step 7—Talking Together About Our Beliefs
15 minutes
Step 8—Reflecting On the Process
10 minutes
Step 9—Next Steps as a Group
10 minutes
Step 10—Celebrating Our Beliefs
10 minutes
Total Time:
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DESCRIPTION OF GROUP PROCESS
Suggested timeframe: 2.0 hours (can be split into two sessions)
Items needed
 Comfortable chairs in a circle
 Refreshments
 Materials for writing or drawing
 Computer with Internet access to listen to streaming audio of the essays
 Signs for Icebreaker Activity (see Step 2)
Step 1—Welcome & Opening Remarks (5 minutes)
Opening remarks by Facilitator, why you are here, how you got involved, what appeals to
you about This I Believe and why.
Individuals take a moment to introduce themselves around the circle.
EXAMPLE: Say something like: “Let’s start by going around and saying your name and
…” (Facilitator chooses one or two of the following)
•
something that led you to accept the invitation to join this dialogue.
-or•
something that you hope to experience or learn while you are here.
-or•
something that could happen in this conversation that would lead you to feel glad that
you decided to participate.
“Please say just a few sentences - not more than a minute or so. I’ll start, then we’ll go
around.” (As the first speaker, you can model brevity with a two-sentence response.)
Courtesy of the Public Conversations Project (www.publicconversations.org)
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Step 2— Ice Breaker Activity: Talking About What’s Important (15 minutes)
• Ask participants to pair up, or hang signs around the room that say “Strongly
Agree,” “Agree,” “Disagree,” and “Strongly Disagree.”
• Distribute or read out loud statements in the exercise titled “What Do You
Think?” (found on page 12 of this document)
• Explain that the statements represent a few of the axioms that some people
believe are true in their lives. If paired, ask participants to select one that they
consider to be true and one that they do not, and talk about their choices with
their partner. Participants can add statements to the list. Or, read them out
loud and have participants stand beneath a sign for each.
• At the end of the exercise, ask participants to share the statements they would
add to the list. Or have them discuss their observations based on the group
activity with the signs.
Step 3— This I Believe Background (10 minutes)
• Provide background information on This I Believe (See document entitled
Introduction to NPR’s This I Believe on p. 11)
• Play a selection of original and/or current essays from the project website,
www.npr.org/thisibelieve
• Talk about the anticipated impact of This I Believe on multiple levels:
o Individuals—As essayists from 50 years ago acknowledged, writing a
This I Believe essay can be a powerful personal experience.
Participants often tell of acquiring new personal insights and
motivation to stand up for what they believe to be right and true.
o Small Groups—Bringing people together in small groups to share their
This I Believe essays can have the effect of developing deeper
understanding or new insights among participants, and as a result
building stronger connections between members.
o Communities—Conflicts about beliefs threaten to divide our
communities. This was as true 50 years ago as it is today. Engaging
others in respectful, insightful discussions about basic beliefs helps
communities reach common ground, can bring about deeper trust, and
ultimately create stronger communities.
Step 4— Review Principles of Conversation (5 minutes)
The purpose of establishing these principles is to craft a set of communication
agreements that everyone understands and agrees to that will serve the purposes of
the dialogue. Review the "Principles for Conversation" below and seek confirmation
or revision. Ask the group to add principles or ground rules if they so desire:
• Acknowledge one another as equals
• Try to stay curious about each other
• Slow down so we have time to think and reflect
• Expect it to be messy at times
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Reprinted with permission of the publisher. From “Turning to One Another: Simple Conversations to Restore Hope for
the Future,” copyright© 2002 by Wheatley, M., Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc., San Francisco, CA. All rights
reserved. (http://www.bkconnection.com)
ADDITIONAL SUGGESTIONS:
Regarding the spirit of our speaking and listening,
1. We will speak for ourselves and from our own experience.
2. We will not criticize the views of other participants or attempt to persuade them.
3. We will listen with resilience, “hanging in” when what is said is hard to hear.
Regarding the form of our speaking and listening,
1. We will participate within the time frames suggested by the facilitator.
2. We will not interrupt except to indicate that we cannot hear a speaker.
3. We will “pass” if we do not wish to speak.
If suggestions are made and agreed to by all, write them on any posted list.
“So is each of you prepared to follow these guidelines as best you can, and allow me to
remind you if you forget?”
Look for verbal and non-verbal responses.
“OK, these will serve as our agreements.”
“If at any point you feel that these agreements are not serving our purposes adequately,
speak up and we’ll see if it makes sense to revise them.”
Courtesy of Public Conversations Project (www.publicconversations.org)
Step 5—Writing About My Beliefs (15 minutes)
Read the Essay-Writing Tips and Invitation by Edward R. Murrow on page 13 for
a clear description of what a This I Believe essay is all about. For those who do
not wish to submit an essay, allow them to craft a "story" about their beliefs. The
story can be in many forms, such as:





A picture
A list of bullet points
A series of statements
A description of a moment that crystallized beliefs
A description of a time when they have felt their beliefs were tested.
The intent is to allow the person to articulate and subsequently share with others
three to four foundations of belief that he/she feels are operating in his/her life,
and/or to begin the process of actually writing a THIS I BELIEVE essay.
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------Here the session may end and participants given the opportunity to work on their written
essays and reconvene at a later date------Step 6—Sharing My Beliefs With Others (25 minutes)
Review Principles and Ground Rules if group is reconvening. Provide each person with
the opportunity to share, (without discussion or comment) their "story" from Step 5.
EXAMPLE: “We are now at the point in our time together when you can talk more
freely. As we move into this less structured time, it’s important to remember why we are
here: not to debate or persuade but to speak with sincerity, to listen with open heartedness
and resilience, to reflect on our own views, and to seek understanding of other views.
Optional: When you’d like to speak, please let me know by raising your hand.”
Courtesy of Public Conversations Project (www.publicconversations.org)
Step 7—Talking Together About Our Beliefs (15 minutes)
After each has had a chance to share their story, individuals are invited to share patterns,
surprises, insights, or questions that surfaced as they listen to others.
EXAMPLE: CONTRIBUTING TO A CONNECTED CONVERSATION

Note a point of learning
Have you heard something that stirred fresh thoughts or feelings?

Pick up and weave a thread
Has an interesting theme or idea emerged that you’d like to add to?

Clarify differences
Have you heard something you disagreed with? If so, first check to see if you
understood it correctly. Then say what was unsettling to you about what you heard
and why.

Ask a question
Is there something someone said that you’d like to understand better? If you ask a
question, be sure it reflects genuine curiosity and is not a challenge in disguise.
Courtesy of Public Conversations Project (www.publicconversations.org)
Step 8—Reflecting On the Process (10 minutes)
The group takes time to look at the guidelines from Step 3 (Principles of Conversation) to
evaluate the experience.
EXAMPLE: “Our time here is coming to an end. Are there any parting words that you’d
like to say to bring your participation to a close?”
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“You may want to simply comment on what the experience has been like for you. Or you
may want to say…” (Facilitator chooses one of the following)
 one idea, feeling, commitment or promising question that you are taking with you.
-or one thing you want to remember about this conversation.
-or something about what came up for you here that you may want to share with a friend,
family member, or co-worker, or take out into your life in some other way.
Courtesy of Public Conversations Project (www.publicconversations.org)
Step 9—Next Steps as a Group (10 minutes)
The group briefly talks about whether it wishes to convene again for some additional
conversation about beliefs and insights/questions arising from this sharing.
Step 10—Celebrating Our Beliefs (10 minutes)
Individuals are invited to develop their “stories” into an essay to be submitted to
the This I Believe project. Details on submitting an essay can be found at web site:
http://www.npr.org/thisibelieve/agree.html
Other ways to celebrate and share personal essays might include:
1. Host a coffee or gathering during which participants are invited to share
their essays with others in the community.
2. Encourage participants to submit their essays to the group’s newsletter or
newspaper.
3. Display text of the essays in common areas of your community group.
4. Encourage participants to submit their essays to their local public radio
station and/or local newspaper for publication. (NOTE: To be considered
for national broadcast, essayists must submit their work through the
project website, www.npr.org/thisibelieve).
5. Listen to NPR broadcasts as a group in the months ahead so that
participants can connect with authentic audiences throughout the United
States (and eventually the world) who are accepting the challenge to write
about their philosophy of life.
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Introduction to NPR’s This I Believe
From 1951-1955, Edward R. Murrow hosted This I Believe, a weekly radio program that
reached 39 million listeners. On this broadcast, Americans from all walks of life read
five-minute essays about their personal philosophy of life. They shared insights about
individual values that shaped their daily actions. The radio series was a phenomenal
success and spread throughout the world via radio, newspapers, and books.
Fifty years later, National Public Radio and Dan Gediman, a Louisville radio producer,
are again inviting Americans of all ages and all perspectives to examine their belief
systems and then write a 350 – 500 word personal essay. In addition to radio broadcasts,
Gediman and his team seek to bring people together in their communities—in houses of
worship, libraries, classrooms, coffee houses, bookstores, and on the Internet—to begin
talking about their beliefs.
NPR’s This I Believe began airing nationally in April 2005. We hope to encourage
members of our community/congregation to participate in the national dialogue, and to
do so by first sitting down with each other and sharing their own beliefs. Anyone who
wishes to can submit their essay via the project website, www.npr.org/thisibelieve, for
review and possible broadcast on NPR. The This I Believe team isn’t looking for
perfectly written, grammatically correct writing samples. Instead, they are looking for
thoughtful words that genuinely reflect those core beliefs that guide your daily life.
Hundreds of people responded to Murrow’s invitation 50 years ago, including former US
presidents and diplomats, captains of industry and educational leaders, nurses, students,
taxi drivers, actors and homemakers. Eleanor Roosevelt, Jackie Robinson, Albert
Einstein, and Helen Keller were just a few of the many who provided their statements of
belief.
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This I Believe
Warm-Up Exercises
The following statements are just a few of the axioms people hold to be true in their lives.
Do you agree or disagree with these statements? For those you agree with, how did you
come to that position? For those you do not agree with, why? Please feel free to add other
statements that sum up one or more of your most cherished beliefs.
What Do You Think?
Life’s fair.
Words can hurt.
What goes around comes around.
How you act in a crisis shows who you really are.
Love conquers all.
An eye for an eye….
People learn from their mistakes.
You can’t depend on anyone else; you can only depend on yourself.
If you smile long enough you become happy.
Miracles do happen.
There is one special person for everyone.
Money can’t buy happiness.
Killing is wrong.
Don’t what is right means obeying the law.
Others provided by facilitator and/or participants:
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This I Believe
Essay-Writing Tips
We invite you to contribute to this project by writing and submitting your own statement
of personal belief. We understand how challenging this is – it requires such intimacy that
no one else can do it for you. To guide you through this process, we offer these
suggestions:
Tell a story: Be specific. Take your belief out of the ether and ground it in the events of
your life. Consider moments when belief was formed or tested or changed. Think of your
own experience, work and family, and tell of the things you know that no one else does.
Your story need not be heart-warming or gut-wrenching – it can even be funny – but it
should be real. Make sure your story ties to the essence of your daily life philosophy and
the shaping of your beliefs.
Be brief: Your statement should be between 350 and 500 words. That’s about three
minutes when read aloud at your natural pace.
Name your belief: If you can’t name it in a sentence or two, your essay might not be
about belief. Also, rather than writing a list, consider focusing on a core belief, because
three minutes is a very short time.
Be positive: Please avoid preaching or editorializing. Tell us what you do believe, not
what you don’t believe. Avoid speaking in the editorial “we.” Make your essay about
you; speak in the first person.
Be personal: This is radio. Write in words and phrases that are comfortable for you to
speak. We recommend you read your essay aloud to yourself several times, and each
time edit it and simplify it until you find the words, tone and story that truly echo your
belief and the way you speak.
For this project, we are also guided by the original This I Believe series. Below, you will
see the producers’ invitation to those who wrote essays in the 1950s. Their advice holds
up well and we are abiding by it. Please consider it carefully in writing your piece.
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In introducing the original series, host Edward R. Murrow said, "Never has the need for
personal philosophies of this kind been so urgent." We would argue that the need is as
great now as it was 50 years ago. We are eager for your contribution.
The Original Invitation from 'This I Believe'
This invites you to make a very great contribution: nothing less than a statement of your
personal beliefs, of the values which rule your thought and action. Your essay should be
about three minutes in length when read loud, written in a style as you yourself speak,
and total no more than 500 words.
We know this is a tough job. What we want is so intimate that no one can write it for you.
You must write it yourself, in the language most natural to you. One faces an intensely
personal moment when he draws up his will disposing of his belongings. Even more
personal is the testament of his faith. It is this we ask you to write in your own words and
then record in your own voice. You may even find that it takes a request like this for you
to reveal some of your own beliefs to yourself. If you set them down they may become of
untold meaning to others.
We would like you to tell not only what you believe, but also how you reached your
beliefs, and if they have grown, what made them grow. This necessarily must be highly
personal. That is what we anticipate and want.
It may help you in formulating your credo if we tell you also what we do not want. We do
not want a sermon, religious or lay; we do not want editorializing or sectarianism or
'finger-pointing.' We do not even want your views on the American way of life, or
democracy or free enterprise. These are important but for another occasion. We want to
know what you live by. And we want it terms of 'I,' not the editorial 'We.'
Although this program is designed to express beliefs, it is not a religious program and is
not concerned with any religious form whatever. Most of our guests express belief in a
Supreme Being, and set forth the importance to them of that belief. However, that is your
decision, since it is your belief which we solicit.
But we do ask you to confine yourself to affirmatives: This means refraining from saying
what you do not believe. Your beliefs may well have grown in clarity to you by a process
of elimination and rejection, but for our part, we must avoid negative statements lest we
become a medium for the criticism of beliefs, which is the very opposite of our purpose.
We are sure the statement we ask from you can have wide and lasting influence. Never
has the need for personal philosophies of this kind been so urgent. Your belief, simply
and sincerely spoken, is sure to stimulate and help those who hear it. We are confident it
will enrich them. May we have your contribution?
Adapted from the invitation sent to essayists featured in the original 'This I Believe' series.
Excerpted from 'This I Believe 2,' copyright © 1954 by Simon and Schuster.
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This I Believe
Quotes from the NPR series
Give, give, give – what is the point of having experience, knowledge or talent if I don't
give it away? Of having stories if I don't tell them to others? Of having wealth if I don't
share it? I don't intend to be cremated with any of it! It is in giving that I connect with
others, with the world and with the divine.
–Novelist Isabel Allende
There is such a thing as truth, but we often have a vested interest in ignoring it or outright
denying it. Also, it's not just thinking something that makes it true. Truth is not relative.
It's not subjective. It may be elusive or hidden. People may wish to disregard it. But there
is such a thing as truth and the pursuit of truth.
–Filmmaker Errol Morris
I am the equal of the world not because of the car I drive, the size of the TV I own, the
weight I can bench press, or the calculus equations I can solve. I am the equal to all I
meet because of the kindness in my heart.
–NPR Listener Sarah Adams
I believe that our greatest strength in dealing with the world is the openness of our society
and the welcoming nature of our people. A good stay in our country is the best public
diplomacy tool we have.
–Former Secretary of State Colin Powell
I seem most instinctively to believe in the human value of creative writing, whether in the
form of verse or fiction, as a mode of truth-telling, self-expression and homage to the
twin miracles of creation and consciousness.
–Writer John Updike
Unless one wants to live a stunningly boring life, one ought to be on good terms with
one's darker side and one's darker energies. And, above all, that one should learn from
turmoil and pain, share one's joy with those less joyful and encourage passion when it
seems likely to promote the common good.
–Psychologist Kay Redfield Jamison
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I believe that justice can’t be shaped by simplistic formulas. Rather, justice happens
when real human beings sort through a jumble of laws, rules, conflicting stories, and
plain old instinct.
–NPR Listener Frederick Reamer
This I believe: that it is intellectually easier to credit a divine intelligence than to submit
dumbly to felicitous congeries about nature.
–Commentator William F. Buckley, Jr.
When I was young, an honest and moral life seemed like a straightforward goal. I now
know that it's not always easy to see what should be done and even harder actually to do
it. Nevertheless I'm grateful that I still have some time to keep trying to get it right, and to
savor each remaining day in my life.
–NPR Listener Elizabeth D. Earle
I believe in the journey, not the arrival, in conversation, not monologues, in multiple
questions rather than a single answer. I believe in the struggle to remake ourselves and
each other in the spirit of eternal forgiveness, in the awareness that none of us knows for
sure what happiness truly is, but each of us knows the imperative to keep searching.
–Commentator and blogger Andrew Sullivan
I believe that I'm free to be who ever I choose. I believe in being a good friend, lover and
parent so that I can have good friends, lovers and children. I believe in being a woman,
the best that I can be, like Mama said.
–NPR Listener Phyllis Allen
I believe that through its rational evaluation of truth and indifference to personal belief,
science transcends religious and political divisions and so does bind us into a greater,
more resilient whole.
–Physicist Brian Greene
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This I Believe
Quotes from the original series
We hardly need to be reminded that we are living in an age of confusion—a lot of us
have traded in our beliefs for bitterness and cynicism or for a heavy package of despair,
or even a quivering portion of hysteria. What truths can a human being afford to furnish
the cluttered nervous room of his mind with, when he has no real idea how long a lease
he has on the future? It is to try to meet the challenge of such questions that we have
prepared these pieces.
—This I Believe Host Edward R. Murrow
I do not believe in predestination, for I think we are given minds for development – and
the greatest gift ever given is that of freedom to decide and act. But there comes a time in
every person’s life – and generally many times – when things become greater than he and
when he must turn to Some One bigger. If one does not have Some One to turn to, one is
lost and unhappy.
—Ward Wheelock, co-creator of This I Believe
I believe that I should behave with courageous dignity in the presence of fate and strive to
be a worthy companion of the Beautiful, the Good and the True. But fate has its master in
the faith of those who surmount it, and limitation has its limits for those who, though
disillusioned, live greatly. True faith is not a fruit of security. It is the ability to blend
mortal fragility with the inner strength of the Spirit. It does not shift with the changing
shades of one's thought.
—Helen Keller
I believe in my fellow citizens. Our headlines are splashed with crime yet for every
criminal there are 10,000 honest, decent, kindly men. If it were not so, no child would
live to grow up. Business could not go on from day to day. Decency is not news. It is
buried in the obituaries, but it is a force stronger than crime. I believe in the unseen and
unending fight against desperate odds that goes on quietly in almost every home in the
land.
—Science Fiction Writer Robert Heinlein
I do not believe that every person, in every walk of life, can succeed in spite of any
handicap. That would be perfection. But I do believe that what I was able to attain came
to be because we put behind us (no matter how slowly) the dogmas of the past: to
discover the truth of today; and perhaps find the greatness of tomorrow.
—Baseball player Jackie Robinson
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All our basic convictions must be tested and transmuted in the crucible of experience –
and sometimes the more bitter the experience, the more valid the purified belief. I started
my battle some 40 years ago. The women and mothers whom I wanted to help also
wanted to help me. I believed it was my duty to place motherhood on a higher level than
enslavement and accident. I was convinced we must care about people; we must reach
out to help them in their despair. For these beliefs, I was denounced, arrested.
—Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger
I feel no need for any other faith than my faith in human beings. Like Confucius of old, I
am so absorbed in the wonder of earth and the life upon it that I cannot think of heaven
and the angels. I have enough for this life. If there is no other life, then this one has been
enough to make it worth being born.
—Novelist Pearl S. Buck
I believe that human life is given meaning through the relationship with the individual’s
conscious goals have to the civilization, period and country within which one lives. At
times the task may be to fence a wilderness, bridge a river, or rear sons to perpetuate a
young colony. Today it means taking upon ourselves the task of creating one world in
such a way that we both keep the future safe and leave the future free.
—Anthropologist Margaret Mead
(In 1946, I decided) that I would take my wife and children to Haiti, where as Negroes in
a Negro republic, we would be free of racial prejudice. I had condemned my country and
my religion because I viewed only what seemed wrong in both. But when I was able to
remove the blinds of my own prejudice, it became clear that these failures where human
failures and not mere self-willed bigotry; and that within each there were many who had
worked and fought for what was right.
—Will Thomas, author of “The Seeking”
I came to believe in God because, over the many years, He time and time again made
Himself manifest to me. To embrace the career of composer is tantamount to embracing
a life of high adventure. There may be no atheists in foxholes, but there are none in the
Green Room either, especially before the premiere of a difficult, intricate and, I hope
always, courageous musical work. Also, one cannot long work in the composition of
music without coming to realize that one doesn’t do it all by oneself.
—Composer George Antheil
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Definitions:
Dialogues are intended to promote mutual understanding, constructive communication,
and fresh approaches to old problems. Dialogue is oriented towards shifts in relationships
rather than toward resolution of a particular dispute.
The most common outcomes of dialogue are dissolved stereotypes and a fuller
appreciation of those who have different experiences and political positions.
New ideas that would be instantly rejected in a polarized atmosphere can be thoughtfully
examined for merit in an atmosphere of dialogue.
Whatever side of the blue-red chasm you sit on, dialogue can clear the smoke of
polarization obscuring the divide.
All quotes courtesy of Public Conversations Project (www.publicconversations.org)
Resources:
For those looking to find or start a dialogue group in their area, the following groups
offer additional ways to help.
The Public Conversations Project
www.publicconversations.org
The National Coalition for Dialogue and Deliberation
www.thataway.org
Let’s Talk America
www.letstalkamerica.org
By the People
www.pbs.org/newshour/btp
The World Café
www.theworldcafe.org
This I Believe Discussion Manual
www.npr.org/thisibelieve
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Conversation Café
www.conversationcafe.org
Disclaimer: This I Believe, Inc. and NPR do not endorse these groups nor are we responsible for the
content on their websites. Website addresses are current as of date of publication of this document.
This I Believe Discussion Manual
www.npr.org/thisibelieve
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